We opened to the public for National Mills Weekend on 7 & 8 May. The water wheel was turning both days with our pump which visitors enjoyed watching, we also had the model of the bone mill as it looked in its working days on display in the visitor centre.
New this year were a display screen showing pictures of the water wheel and brickwork restoration in 2015, recycle bins around the site, various nest boxes which visitors were asking about, including a Barn Owl box, which on Saturday we discovered is being used by Jackdaws. A new cycle rack was used for the first time, all these items were provided by our Breckland Council Green Community Grant.
As the weather was sunny and dry, we put display boards outside our visitor centre and in front of our new shed which was built as part of our Wildflower meadow project funded by a NCF Greening Our Communities grant. The shed will replace the large green container. Several visitors read the signs about the wildflower project and were asking about it, we will start working on the area soon.
Refreshments were provided from our Railway Wagon kitchen, the sausage rolls and Norfolk shortbread were very popular with visitors and volunteers. The catering team kept everyone supplied with tea and coffee throughout the days. We would like to thank everyone who made a donation, money is taken off site each day and used to keep the mill looking good and allows us to open to the public.
There is always plenty of wildlife to see at the mill and along the riverside track that leads to it, several visitors said how much they enjoyed the walk to the mill. On Saturday a Duck with four Ducklings swam past, and a Ruby Tailed Wasp was seen.
Back in 2016 a Time Capsule was buried at the mill, children from Narborough Primary School supplied items of interest, this will be opened in 2026. Harry who visited on Saturday was one of the children who put an entry in the time capsule, he is looking forward to attending the event when it is opened. We hope as many people as possible who were involved will be able to attend, please contact us nearer the time if you were there in 2016 and would like to attend in 2026.
We hope everyone enjoyed our open days, we always like showing visitors around and explaining what we have done, we had some very positive comments in our visitors book.
Mills Weekend was cancelled the last two years due to the Covid pandemic, but Heritage Open Days in September of both years went ahead with restrictions. The next public opening will be Heritage Open Days on 17 & 18 September 2022, but you can contact us to arrange a group visit, or join us when volunteers are working on site by crossing our bridge, this could be Thursdays or Saturdays. Contact us and we will advise when the next work party will be. We are recruiting volunteers to help with our projects, see our volunteering page for details.
Mills Weekend website Narborough Bone Mill entry Mills Weekend 2019 Blog 30/4/22
